Terminally Ill Boy Dies In Santas Arms After Asking Him For Help With His Illness

1 year ago

Terminally Ill Boy Dies In Santa’s Arms After Asking Him For Help With His Illness

December 12, 2016

Eric Schmitt-Matzen is a professional Santa Claus. He’s six foot tall, weighs 310lbs, and regularly bleaches his beard to maintain its whiteness. All in all, he looks every bit like Santa Claus. Even his civilian attire always includes Santa suspenders.

The whole shtick is designed to spread joy and have fun. Which it does – except for the role he played several weeks ago at a local hospital in Knoxville.

Credit: Eric Schmitt-Matzen

He explained to the Knoxville News Sentinel: “I’d just gotten home from work that day. The telephone rang. It was a nurse I know who works at the hospital. She said there was a very sick five-year-old boy who wanted to see Santa Claus. I told her, ‘OK, just let me change into my outfit’. She said, ‘There isn’t time for that. Your Santa suspenders are good enough. Come right now’.”

He managed to get to the hospital in 15 minutes where he was greeted by the child’s mother. He said: “She’d bought a toy from PAW Patrol and wanted me to give it to him. I sized up the situation and told everyone, ‘If you think you’re going to lose it, please leave the room. If I see you crying, I’ll break down and can’t do my job.'”

Nobody entered with him. The family watched, sobbing, from a hallway window in the Intensive Care Unit.

When I walked in, he was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep. I sat down on his bed and asked, ‘Say, what’s this I hear about you’re gonna miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas! Why, you’re my Number One elf!

“He looked up and said, ‘I am?’

“I said, ‘Sure!’

“I gave him the present. He was so weak he could barely open the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, he flashed a big smile and laid his head back down.”

‘”They say I’m gonna die,’ he told me. ‘How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?’

“I said, ‘Can you do me a big favor?’

“He said, ‘Sure!’

“When you get there, you tell ’em you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in.

“He said, ‘They will?’

“I said, ‘Sure!’

“He kinda sat up and gave me a big hug and asked one more question: ‘Santa, can you help me?’

“I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there. I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him.

“Everyone outside the room realized what happened. His mother ran in. She was screaming, ‘No, no, not yet!’ I handed her son back and left as fast as I could.

“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it.'”

In despair, Schmitt-Matzen was ready to hang up his suit. “I’m just not cut out for this,” he reasoned.

But he mustered the strength to work one more show.

“When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold. It made me realize the role I have to play.